1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle racks for holding items such as bicycles. The invention has its greatest applicability as an attachment to sport utility vehicles.
2. General Background and State of the Art
Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and minivans are very popular with vehicle owners especially in the United States. Many have receiving hitches mounted below the rear bumper for receiving a trailer hitch or a sport rack. Sport racks for SUVs and minivans have been designed to carry bicycles, skis, snow boards, motorcycles and other equipment.
Most SUVs and minivans have rear doors. Stationary racks attached to the receiving hitch normally would block the rear door. Therefore, racks have been proposed to move the equipment on the rack out of the way of the rear door. In one example, an upright post, which mounts to a hitch attachment member, pivots rearward to a stop about a horizontal axis. The degree of pivoting leaves sufficient room to open the rear door. Pivoting a heavy, fully loaded rack creates problem, however. Releasing the lock holding the upright post when the vehicle faces up hill can cause the post to pivot backwards very fast. That can damage the rack or the equipment on the rack.
Some racks pivot about a vertical axis. Lovci, U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,373 (1992) and Joder, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,717 (1997), are examples. Both have a pair of arms. One arm attaches to the receiving hitch and extends to one side of the vehicle. The other arm pivots on the end of the first arm. A vertical post mounts on the second arm, and the structure for mounting equipment mounts to the vertical post. Swinging the second arm relative to the first arm pivots the vertical post, the equipment mount and the equipment itself away from the vehicle's rear door.
When the second arm pivots more than 90.degree. and approaches 180.degree. to the first arm, the equipment may contact the side of the vehicle. Wide items such as bicycles are vulnerable. The art recognizes that one can pivot the equipment about a vertical axis relative to the second arm. Therefore, as the second arm moves to its fully open, 180.degree. position, the equipment can be pivoted 90.degree. and be parallel with the side of the vehicle.
In the Joder patent, the vertical post pivots at its base about the second arm. The second arm locks to the first arm and the vertical post locks to the second arm. Thus, when the vehicle is in motion, the various parts are stationary on the vehicle. Reaching the releasable lock that prevents the vertical post from pivoting is difficult when the rack carries equipment. That is because the equipment usually blocks access to the lock. A bicycle rack made by Surco Products of Los Angeles, Calif., has a remote release that connects to the lock preventing the vertical post from pivoting. That remote release is near the top of the vertical post or near the bicycles themselves. Therefore, the bicycle structure, especially the wheels and spokes, do not block access to the release. A remote release adds complexity and cost to the rack, however.
These racks suffer another problem. The rack's equipment carrier projects far behind the vehicle and can pose a hazard. SUVs are often large themselves, and some large ones barely fit in a garage. Their back ends also can project beyond the back ends of a line of cars in a parking lot. In a parking lot, another driver may strike the rack because it projects farther into the lane between rows of vehicles than the backs of other vehicles.